Direvus - July 2022 - Landslide + Take It Easy + Sound Of Silence + Californication + R U Mine + Swinging On A Star + House of the Rising Sun

I think you are brave for even giving this a go its not easy! Well done!

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Coming along nicely Brendan.

This song is a good grower as there are lots of bits that can be done simply or more complicated.

Thought I’d give you tip that I reckon you could do already with a little practice if you gave it a shot.

The last note of the chord arpeggios in the verse sections are held longer. Watching your hand, you can do it, you’re changing earlier than you need to. I can tell that because you’re well ready in place waiting for the beat. Let it ring a little bit longer, then when you change, try to get your fingers there just in time. Will add a lot to the song.

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Thanks for the comment JK. I think getting moving into position well before the beat in the verses is a leftover from early sessions with this riff, when I found it really difficult to get my hand set up in the F grip properly. Suspect you are right that I don’t need to give myself so much time on that anymore.

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That was nicely done Brendan. A classic tune to cover.

I need say nothing more as others have already said it.

Taking another crack at this one, incorporating feedback on my last video (esp. from @Notter and @jkahn) and playing around with my new recording gear and Garage Band.

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I’m ‘cheating’ a little bit on this one because I had already sunk a bunch of time into the Lead track for it on Rocksmith, 6-7 years ago, so the timing feels very familiar to me.

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Clean chord changes and looks like you’ve got a good sense of the rhythm.

Next challenge would be to try a bit of distortion and play the riffs !

Sounds good, Brendan. Noted your thumb strumming, getting a smooth even sound.

For this one maybe BT a little louder would have been cool.

Thanks David. I always strum with my thumb, well on the downs anyway. I never got the hang of using a pick, and since I much prefer the sensation of having the strings under my fingers, I decided to continue learning without one.

Sorry not familiar with “BT”, what’s that mean?

Because I work full time and have got young kids at home, the only opportunities I really get to play are when they are asleep – which means playing/singing loud, or messing with distortion is rarely an option! The only way I get to fiddle with the gain knobs on my amp is if I pipe it out to headphones, but I can’t really record that way, as I don’t (yet) have an audio interface.

Many great players who don’t use a pick. Is it worth persevering, say 5 minutes strumming with a pick every time you play? Likely to get a whole lots of different thoughts on that question. Meanwhile you are doing great, so keep on keeping on.

Apologies BT is Backing Track

Apologies BT is Backing Track

Yeah OK that is really obvious in retrospect, I feel a bit silly :sweat_smile:

Not at all … acronyms may appear obvious in hindsight but when presented with one in the moment they can be real head-scratchers.

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Sounding good Brendan. Clean chord changes and smooth strumming.

Probably. Coud always go with the key note from Justin in Grade 1 ‘I tend to do at least 50% of my practice without a pick. I’m pretty comfortable when I have to use one. Set this as your goal’.

Good stuff Brendan. Next thing to do is get out of the habit of constantly watching your fretting fingers and what I’m assuming is a computer screen.

Thanks Gordon, yeah what I’m looking at for most of the video is the JG app on my phone, so I’m watching for the chord prompts and checking in to make sure I’m not drifting off the beat. Looking at my fret hand is a difficult habit to break but I am working on that, and slowly getting better. Had no real idea how much I was doing it, until I started watching back my own recordings!

It’s important to learn to use your ears rather than your eyes. I’ve never used the app so don’t know anything about it. Can you turn off the video and simply listen to the audio and see how you get on?

Sure I could but then I wouldn’t know what chords to play :sweat_smile:

Memorising songs is something I am having a hard time with, in fact I’ve got a thread open on the Technique channel asking for tips on how to get better on that. At the moment, unless the chord sequence is dead simple, I need either a chord sheet or the app in front of me, or I’m completely lost.

Hard to make a call on this one as not familiar with the song and could not really hear the backing track. All sounded smooth and solid but difficult put into context with the BT so low in the mix. That said it looks and sounds like good progress.
:sunglasses:

Well that’s my whole point Brendan. Of course you need to read/look at the source material when learning a song but you then need to force yourself to play it without the sheet, book, app or whatever. Like all things guitar it’s a matter of practice.
Get either the lyrics or the chord progression of by heart first. Then concentrate on the other one. If you have to concentrate on both at once it makes things very difficult.
Once the lyric and chord progression are off pat then you can fancy up your strumming pattern, add embellishments etc.

@sairfingers Thats solid advice. It also helps to break the song down into chunks.